Shipping of goods, both regionally and internationally, is conducted by several means including rail, ship and, very often, truck. While container trucks or truck-trailer combinations are used, particularly in conjunction with rail or ship container shipping, in many places and situations, a standard flatbed truck is used. In order to protect the shipped goods from exposure to the elements, vandalism and theft, they are typically covered with tarps. To prevent the tarpaulin system from opening while the truck is moving, to decrease the aerodynamic drag forces which increase fuel efficiency and to make the system appear attractive by having a tight tarpaulin system, locking and tensioning of the tarp is a necessity.
Also, this tarpaulin system locking and tarp tensioning device called “Loc-N-Load Mechanism” cannot be protrude into the loading area or be any wider than inside cargo space allows, and has to be easy and automatically operated. Above all, the operating of the device has to be safe during engaging disengaging to prevent the operator from having to manually manipulate any part of the locking device where the cargo will be loaded tight to the tarp assembly system frames.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,211 and CA Patent No. 2406815 issued to Cramaro Tarpaulin Systems Inc. discloses a tarpaulin tensioning arrangement which selectively is moved to covering and uncovering position. This patent consists of a threaded shaft which when it turns, it displaces a carriage where an exterior plate is mounted. A pivot leg is attached to the exterior plate with a pin. The pivot leg is lifted from a spring when the system is released and it is pulled down manually prior to locking the system. This patented design requires many components. When you engage the leg in the catcher of the system, a manual unsafe operation form the system operator is required by manually lowering the leg down in the operating position to withstand the spring lifting up force. Also, this patented design presented it is very complex and it requires a lot of machining and fabrication.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,117 and CA Patent No. 2456448 issued to Aero Industries Inc. discloses a mechanism that removes the slack in the tarp by adjusting the position of an adjusted block by means of turning the screw, where the tarp is attached to the adjusted block. This design may partially remove the slack that may appear in the tarp but it is not able to comply with the requirements that an opening and closing tarpaulin system needs. This invention does not perform the opening and closing of the tarpaulin systems automatically to fulfill the requirements.
Other mechanisms of tensioning and locking of tarpaulin systems that may or may not be in the process of patenting are already used in the tarpaulin market industry from DeMonte Fabricating Ltd., Roll-Tite Inc., Aero Industries Inc., Tarp Stop, Verduyn Tarps Inc. etc.
All of these tarp tensioning and system locking mechanisms are done by means of force exerted in the so-called rear car frame having an aligning angle with the flat bed of the trailer which in itself is projected into a component force in a parallel direction with the trailer or also called the horizontal work force and a vertical component force.
The parallel component force as determined previously is the one that tights the tarp into a preferred position. The unneeded vertical component of the force is the one that pushes the rear car frame up the vertical direction requiring underneath stoppers or wheels to withstand this unneeded force. Also, the force leads to an unneeded torque relative to a pivot point. In this case the pivot point refers to the contact of rolling wheels and the track which are used to open and close the system in all tarpaulin systems. All these factors most often lead to a failure or short lifetime expectancy of the wheels and other tarpaulin system components due to unneeded excessive load. This way of operating the mechanism sustains the components under pressure which leads to a possible failure of these components which means failure of the system assembly.
All the mechanisms as disclosed require taking payload space, and intervening of the operator in the transition operations of the mechanism: opening, operating, and closing the system. When the systems are prepared for tarp tensioning operation, an operator action is required to engage the mechanism by overcoming the resistance force of the spring, a magnetic field or other mechanical forms.
All the disclosed mechanisms fail to have a complete automatic process of opening, operating and closing the tarp system. They all require interventions of the operator as a necessity to fully perform what is required from the lock and tension devices.
All the disclosed tarp tensioning and locking mechanisms are complex, too many components and have a high price tag that the said tarp industry cannot afford. There is a need in tarp and trucking industry to address these issues that exist with tensioning and locking of the tarp systems.
It is an object of this presented invention to partially or completely fulfill one more of the above-mentioned needs.